Friday, August 26, 2016

Twelve faculty and staff members
were recognized for their exceptional contributions during this year’s, 2016-17,
Faculty/Staff Kickoff.

The College of Engineering,
Technology, and Architecture is proud to announce and congratulate two of the
winners as CETA faculty:

Awards
for Innovations in Teaching and Learning:

Seth Holmes - Assistant Professor of Architecture in the College of
Engineering, Technology, and Architecture:

Last fall, graduate students in Holmes's "Advanced Building
Systems" course built six different huts to analyze the effectiveness of
architectural design methods in relation to indoor environment comfort and
energy use. You may have seen the huts located near Lincoln Theater and the
picnic grove on the residential side of campus. This active learning technique
promotes students’ ability to evaluate and apply knowledge to real-world
architectural design proposals.

The Women’s Advancement Initiative Faculty Fellowship Program:

Ivana Milanovic - Professor of Mechanical
Engineering in the College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture

Milanovic is an inspiring teacher, tireless professional, and excellent
researcher, who always focuses on her students and the community. She is an
expert in developing high-impact practices in teaching and a champion in using
multimedia and enriched content.

Qualifying to join NBC’s staff at
the Olympics may not be as difficult as the work to win a medal, but the
competition is tough. Just ask Angel Muñoz ’17, who was one of thousands
of young people who applied for a coveted intern position on the network’s
production team at the Games. As it turns out, he was the only engineering
student selected to help broadcast the Games to millions of viewers around the
world.

“I came to Rio expecting to be in a
pool of “runner” interns with general duties,” says Angel, an audio engineering technology major
in the University’s College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture
(CETA). “Now I’m actually involved in broadcasting the Olympic Games, one of
the most massive media productions in the world. I’m interning directly with
the A1 engineer, who mixes all the sound for the show, and the A2 engineer, who
sets up technical equipment for the sound. I couldn’t believe I was actually
putting a microphone on Bob Costas during rehearsal.”

Angel’s dream of interning at the
Olympics started during his first year at UHart, when he learned that Joe
Dziok, a music production and technology major in The Hartt School, interned at
the 2014 winter games in Soche, Russia. (Read more about Joe Dziok, and his
experience at the Olympics.) Angel’s advisor, Assistant Professor of
Electrical and Computer Engineering David Shuman, supported him in his quest to
intern in Rio.

“Angel has a worldliness about him
that, when combined with how studious he is and how hard he works, is a great
mix for broadcast,” says Shuman. Additionally, Shuman points out that the
University’s audio technology program is more technical than most in the
country. “Our students tend to advance very quickly once people understand
their technical capabilities.”

Angel, who arrived in Rio on July 17
and expects to be there until August 24, isn’t complaining about his 3 p.m. to
3 a.m. daily shifts. He says NBC is, “taking great care of its interns with
sightseeing trips and hosting dinners with athletes and network employees.” Any
other time he has, he’s using to make connections. “Broadcasting is a great
world to work in, so I hope to keep networking while I’m here. It’s a long road
and a lot of hard work, but I’m up for it.”

Something else he’s up for?
“Catching some beach volleyball and gymnastics action before my work day
begins.”

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Ted Sussmann, assistant
professor in CETA’s Civil, Environmental, and Biomedical Engineering
Department, was involved in presentations in Italy, China, and at the
University of Illinois this summer. In Milan, Italy, Dr. Sussmann
attended the World Congress on Railway Research and was coauthor of the
paper “Long Term Performance of Slab Track Designed for Shared Passenger
and Freight Operations and Tested Under Heavy Freight Trains”, which
summarizes the results from a recently completed long term test Dr.
Sussmann worked to initiate in his early research for the Volpe Center
in Cambridge, MA. In China, Dr. Sussmann was invited to speak at the
First International Summit on Railroad Engineering and Transportation
Geotechnics at Central South University in Changsha. Finally, Dr.
Sussmann presented “Track Substructure Influences on Track Support
Conditions” at the 2016 International Crosstie and Fastening Symposium
at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.